This paper critiques middle leadership research, in particular the research presented in this symposium, that address and account for ways the different communicative practices of middle leaders in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden align and disalign - converge and diverge. It contextualises and capitalises on the growing body of international middle leadership research the site-based conditions under which middle leaders work in the different jurisdictions. In particular, the paper discusses the concept of communicative space, and the practices that middle leaders employ, as a productive way to promote teacher professional learning in schools. By drawing across the papers, remarks will be made about the need to understand the nature of how such a space is constituted as practice-in-action. In particular it aims to shed light on what space means in the creation of communicative spaces - as a practice architecture - which promote open productive dialogues, a notion often taken to be a catch-all phrase. It seeks to shed light on the importance of communication practices in middle leader work to extend beyond more common understandings of ‘collaborative learning’ (Fisher, 2013) and ‘communities of practices’ (Wenger, 2000). The discussion will highlight the nature of the spaces and the practices enacted by middle leaders, to consider how in the different international settings these spaces are created, nourished and sustained by the leading practices of middle leaders. The critique will directly highlight how each of the papers from the different national contexts enable and constrain communication through the practices of middle leaders as examined in the research. Questions will be posed the presenting authors related to further research.

Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C. & Rönnerman, K. (2020). Middle Leadership in Schools: A practical guide for leading learning. Routledge. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P. & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing Practices, Changing Education. Springer. Rönnerman, K., Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2018). Att leda från mitten - lärare driver professionell utveckling [trans: Leading from the middle - Teachers driving professional development]. Lärarförlaget.